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GAZETTE
APRIL 1989
LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND
REVENUE COMMISSIONERS - STAMP DUTY
LAND REGISTRY & REGISTRY OF DEEDS
The President and Council of the Law Society have noted with extreme concern
the notice by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in the daily papers of
16th February, 1989, to the effect that the Stamps Office will not deal with postal
applications until further notice. The Society understands that it will be quite
some time before the postal service is resumed.
This public admission by the Revenue Commissioners of their inability to
adequately staff a major revenue raising service will impose severe hardship, delay
and additional costs on solicitors practising outside Dublin and on their clients.
The Society seeks the understanding of Solicitors'
Clients in the present difficulty.
The inability of the Revenue Commissioners to deal with the increasing flow of
business consequent on recent improvements in the economy, will be a serious
blow to business confidence and to the expeditious handling of business in the
rising property market.
At the same time the Society urges the Minister for
Finance to take immediate steps to eliminate
these difficulties.
The Society avails of this opportunity to draw the public's attention to an almost
equally disastrous situation in the Land Registry and Registry of Deeds, where
despite the Society's constant pressure and the strongest representations to the
Department of Justice and public representatives of all political parties, delays
in many types of application, due to inadequate staffing are running at
12 months
and more
Again, this is having a seriously detrimental effect on property
transactions and building developments.
Despite the high and ever increasing level of charges, the service is deteriorating
by the day.
How long must the public suffer from
inadequate, essential Government services
for which they pay dearly?
Text of notice placed in the national newspapers on 17 February, 1989, by the Society's Public Relations Committee.
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